Wallets · 26 / 127 · 2 min
MPC wallets
A wallet with no seed you can write down has split the key. Someone else holds a share.
No seed you can write down means you cannot walk out with the whole key.
A worked case
A wallet advertises that there is nothing to lose because there is no seed. The recovery email is the company's. The company's share plus the recovery policy can move the coins. The nothing-to-lose was the seed. The something-to-lose was the share.
The shares
Multi-party computation can build a signature without one person holding the whole key. That is useful. It is also a list of share-holders.
No seed
If you cannot write down a seed, you cannot leave with the whole key. Recovery runs through the company, or through the other shares. That is the product.
Shares, not a seed in your drawer
Secure multi-party computation can produce a signature from shares held by different parties, so no single share is the whole key. That removes one kind of loss. It adds a list of parties.
A wallet that cannot give you a seed cannot give you an exit that does not involve those parties. Recovery is a policy. The policy is the firm, unless you can name a share that is actually yours.
Read it yourself
These links are the record. They are not a recommendation, and they are not instructions. A news story or a court paper can still be wrong about a detail. The check does not change because a famous name is in the story.
Apply the check
Open a question. The line is about this topic. It is not a verdict that anything is safe.
The company, if recovery or a fee is theirs.
The policy that says how shares combine.
Whoever can gather enough shares. Often the company, through recovery.
Check yourself
Write it in your own words. The course's answer opens after that. Nothing is sent.
After this you can name every party who holds a share.